The Fires That Burned Blue (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 (The Mysterious Man)

It was late when Lilly opened her eyes again. She had been woken up by the sound of raised voices downstairs. It was nothing new, but the voice she had heard raised was her fathers, and the voice answering back was one she recognised.

She opened the bedroom door and looked down the stairs. Her father was standing at the door, refusing to let someone in. It was the same man she had seen the other year. He wore the same black suit, but this time his eyes were filled with fury.

“I’ve told you before, mate, she’s fine, but if you don’t up it soon then she won’t be here much longer,” said her father.

“You do not threaten me,” said the bearded man.

“Listen, pal, you come and go. You check up, make sure things are alright, but you don’t have to live with her constant tantrums.”

“Have you ever thought to include her in your lives instead of shunting her to the side?”

“She doesn’t wanna get involved in what we do,” said her dad.

“No,” said the man, “maybe she doesn’t.”

“So it’s your choice. You either pay us more, or she’s gone.”

The man looked angry, but then raised his head and looked at her father. “Are you threatening me, Mr Galloway?”

“Just a friendly bit of advice, Mr Magister.”

The man - Mr Magister - continued to stare up at her father. “You will do exactly as I say, Mr Galloway.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You will do as I say,” he said, a little more forcefully this time.

Lilly bit her bottom lip. If this man got on the wrong side of her dad, then he’d kill him.

“I will not do as you say. Who the bloody hell do you think you are?”

“You will do as I say. You will obey me.”

That’s a weird thing to say, thought Lilly.

“I will…not obey you,” said her Dad, a little confused in his delivery.

“You will obey me. Obey me,” said the man, his teeth gritted tightly together and staring at her father.

Lilly watched on with wide eyes, expecting the punch…which never came.

“I…will obey,” said her dad.

“You will continue to look after Lilly for the same price as I have always paid you. I will continue to make regular visits and when the time is right she will join me. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” said her father slowly. “Yes, I understand.”

“Good,” said the man. He rubbed his hands together. “Thank you for your time, Mr Galloway. I shall be seeing you again.”

Mr Magister walked away and Lilly’s dad closed the door and returned to the living room.

Lilly sat there for a few minutes contemplating what she had just witnessed. It was something like hypnotism. Had that man, Mr Magister, really hypnotised her father?




The next morning Lilly got up for school and made her way downstairs. Her dad was sat at the kitchen table reading a paper and tucking into four rounds of jam on toast. She got herself a bowl of cornflakes and sat down opposite him.

He looked up at her and then back down.

“Dad,” she said, slowly, “who was that man who was round last night?”

He looked up at her and frowned. “What were you doing up?”

“He was angry,” said Lilly. “I heard you shouting.”

“You stay in your room next time. Do you hear me?”

“He was talking about me,” said Lilly. “Why is he paying you?”

“You shut up now, Lilly. Remember what happened last time you went on and on?”

“Yeah, you locked me in my room,” said Lilly. “So who is he?”

“What’s going on?” said Andrea, wandering into the kitchen, yawning.

“Magister was round last night and Lilly overheard us arguing.”

“You should keep out of it, Lilly,” said Andrea, sitting down next to her. “If you know what’s good for you.”

“What’s good for me?” said Lilly. “What’s good for me is not being stuck in this house with you lot.”

“This is your home, Lilly,” said her dad.

“Yeah,” laughed Andrea. “You aren’t getting your letter for Hogwarts, sweetheart.”

“This is a nightmare,” she said holding her head in her hands.

“You’re not leaving,” said her dad.

“Why? Because Magister is paying you to keep me? Why? If you hate me so much, why?”

“We don’t hate you,” said Andrea. “We just don’t like you.”

“I’m getting out of here,” said Lilly, getting up and grabbing her school bag.

“You will make sure you’re back after school, Lilly,” said her dad, holding up a finger as a warning to her.

“Maybe,” she said.

“You will be!” shouted her dad.

Lilly didn’t answer back, she got out of the kitchen as fast as she could, grabbed her coat and then slammed the door behind her.




It was late morning and her and Craig were sat at the back of a derelict warehouse, looking up at the sky and resting their heads on their schoolbags. Neither of them had gone to school that day. Lilly didn’t care anymore. She had no future. She knew that.

Craig turned to her. “Happy birthday by the way.”

“Cheers,” said Lilly. “But it’s just another year.”

“Not every day you turn 15.”

“I wish I didn’t turn anything any more,” said Lilly.

“You don’t really think that, do you?” said Craig, frowning.

“I don’t know,” said Lilly. “I hate it here. I hate the estate, I hate my family, I hate all the thugs around here. And then there’s that Mr Magister.”

“Ah yeah, I looked that up,” said Craig, going into his bag and flicking to the back of his exercise book. “It’s Latin for teacher or master.”

“Fat lot of good that does,” said Lilly glumly.

Craig looked crestfallen.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Thank you.”

“It’s alright,” said Craig. “What do you reckon he wants? Why do you think he’s paying for your family to look after you? That doesn’t sound right, does it?”

“No. Why would a family have to pay for them to look after their own daughter.”

Craig sighed. “Your dad’ll kill you when he finds out you’re not at school.”

“So will your parents,” said Lilly.

“Hey,” said Craig, “my parents aren’t back till six tonight. Do you fancy coming round? There’ll be no one there. At least we can get warm.”

“Yeah, alright,” said Lilly, smiling. She liked Craig. He wasn’t the brightest button in the sewing basket, but he had a good heart. If there was anyone in this world she could trust and confide in then it was Craig.

The two of them grabbed their bags and made their way to his house.




Lilly drained her glass of orange juice and then leaned back against the wall. The two of them were sat crossed-legged on the bed and had been playing on Craig’s Nintendo. Super Mario 3 was about the only game he’d managed to save from being taken away by Colin Dunlop. Basically Colin had sold them to him, but what Colin - in his infinite wisdom - had failed to do was tell him that he wanted them back - and Craig wouldn’t be getting his money back either.

Luckily he’d managed to get Mario 3 for his birthday - the only present last year - and had kept quiet about it. If Colin had known he’d owned it it would surely go the way of every game her ever owned.

“Want another drink?” said Craig, putting down the control pad.

“Nah. I’ve had three already. I’ll burst.”

He looked at her and then jumped off the bed and went into his bedside cabinet.

Craig’s house wasn’t much to look at, but it was a damn sight better than where she came from. It was only a few streets down, but, as poor as Craig’s parents apparently were, they at least tried to look after him. They had a heart.

“What are you after?” said Lilly, curious.

“This,” said Craig, bringing out an old, thin cardboard box. He blew the dust off it and opened the lid. Inside was, to Lilly’s horror, a dagger with a jewelled sheath over the blade.

“Jesus, Craig, where did you find that!?”

“It was my granddad’s during the war,” said Craig. He touched the edge of the sheath and then looked at her. “It’s very, very sharp.”

He handed it over to Lilly who looked down at it nervously, as if it was about to fall from her hands and stab her in the legs. “It’s got a swastika on it,” she said, running her finger along the small, black and white swastika emblazed at the top of the handle.

“Well, yeah, it didn’t originally belong to my granddad. He got into a fight with a Nazi soldier and…well, let’s just say I’m here, which means my granddad won. He took the knife.”

“And your parents just let you keep it up here, do they?”

“They don’t know it’s in here. They think it’s still up in the loft with the other junk.”

She handed it back to him. “I’ve gotta ask you, Craig, what exactly do you need with a 1940’s knife?”

“Protection,” said Craig. “The first time Colin Dunlop came for me I thought I’d better start protecting myself. I went into the loft and took the knife down.”

“But it’s been sat in your bedside cabinet,” said Lilly, looking down at it disdainfully.

“I was too scared to carry it about with me.” He handed it back to her. “It’s yours.”

“I don’t want it!” she said, edging away a little bit.

“You need it more than I do.”

“I am not going to stab someone to death!” said Lilly, abhorred at Craig’s insistence. As much as she hated her family she wasn’t about to start murdering each of them.

“It’s not for stabbing!” he said, shocked. “It’s for self defence. If you pulled this out when one of your family - or that Mr Magister - started on you they’d think again.”

“I don’t know, Craig,” she said, shaking her head and still looking at the knife.

“Please, just take it. You need to protect yourself from them. Please.”




That night Lilly returned home just in time to see Mr Magister leaving her house again. She remained hidden behind the wall and watched as her dad closed the door. Her eyes followed Magister as he calmly walked down the street and then turned the corner.

She wanted some answers. She hefted her school bag onto her shoulder and quickly ran after him, all the time looking around her and trying to keep in the shadows between the patches of orange street light that illuminated the pavement.

She turned the corner and saw him disappear into an alley way. She waited until the coast was clear and then made after him.

When she turned into the alleyway he was nowhere to be seen, and it was a dead end. A mattress with it’s springs sticking out, dirty bed sheets, a few wooden pallets and a small, battered children’s Wendy house was all that she could see.

Where the bloody hell did he go? thought Lilly.

And then she heard it. The same sound she had heard last year when she had seen Magister that night. The same rushing and whooshing sound filled the air and slowly, to Lilly’s utter surprise, the Wendy house disappeared into thin air.

Lilly dropped her bag on the floor and stared at the space, open mouthed. She walked over to where the Wendy house had been. There was nothing but a patch of dry ground.

“What the hell…?” was all that Lilly could manage.

To be continued...

The Fires That Burned Blue (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 (Family Fortunes)

The Doctor’s face exploded in glowing, golden light. He threw his arms out at either side. This was a feeling he never thought he’d feel again.

He could feel every cell in his body shifting and changing. He could feel his limbs altering ever-so-slightly, and he could feel his face stretching and changing, the bones beneath the skin cracking and twisting into a new structure.

Then, with a final burst of energy, he completed the change.

He fell to the ground, steadying himself and then slowly lifted his head.

He caught his new reflection in a glass panel on the top of the console. He was younger this time and with a full head of hair. His eyes were bright blue, alert and eager and he had a small amount of facial hair. He smiled and his reflection smiled back at him.

“Good morning,” he said to himself.




24 Hours After Regeneration




The Doctor looked down at the crumpled bag of squashed Jelly Babies and smiled. How long had he kept this bag in the wardrobe? If it had been in any other place they would have gone off a long, long time ago, but the TARDIS helped to keep them as fresh as the day they were bought.

As fresh as the day that Susan bought them.

He shook away the thoughts and put the bag back into the coat hanging in the wardrobe. He turned and looked at himself in the mirror as he stood there in his blue, towelled dressing gown.

He had gotten so used to himself not having hair that something didn’t sit quite right with him now. He ran his hand through his short, dark hair and then across the unshaven stubble. He breathed in and then exhaled, feeling his hearts beating wildly. He felt young again. He felt alive.

He wandered over to another, large wardrobe and opened it. Inside was an array of different clothing - long scarves, leather jackets, baggy trousers…and then his eyes fixed on something. Something simple - a grey blazer-type jacket. He pulled on a shirt, a skinny black tie and then the jacket. He looked at himself sternly in the mirror, and then nodded his approval.

But something was missing…

Trousers!

He opened a chest of drawers and rifled through the varying different trousers before settling on a pair of dark jeans. He pulled them on - a little tight, but they’d do - and was about to leave when something caught his eye - a long, dark coat. He considered for a moment - it’d be ideal in colder weathers. He grabbed the coat and made his way back towards the console room.

The TARDIS was still undergoing its own regeneration. After he had changed he had decided on a different look for the interior. Every now and again he would fancy a change. But for now the TARDIS still hadn’t completed it’s new look. Every where was shrouded in darkness. When he walked into the console room only the console could be seen, sat in the dark like a shining beacon.

He draped the coat over one part of the console and then looked down at the readings. The last 24 hours had been difficult for him. Post regenerative trauma is usually pretty stressful, and the Doctor had certainly gone through them in the past, but this time he forced himself to stay in the TARDIS, putting a lock on the console so he wouldn’t be able to land for 24 hours.

In the past day he had gone swimming, painted three separate pictures of the console, read four books, learned to play the guitar and ate a whole turkey to himself.

But now, thankfully, apart from a slight headache, he was feeling normal. He was feeling sane.

So now he had to deal with the task at hand.

Exhaling, he punched in the coordinates and set the TARDIS in flight.




The pale castle stood on top of Mount Cassius like a white, shining beacon, looking over the land around it. It had belonged to a royal family of an alien race that had been wiped out during the Time War, their names and entire history erased from time.

All that stood in their memory was the castle.

A castle that was now occupied by others.

The TARDIS materialised at the foot of the mountain beside the lake. The clouds above were dark and grey and there was a light sprinkling of rain coming down.

The Doctor opened the door and looked outside. He wrinkled his nose at the rain, ducked back inside, and then emerged once again wearing his large coat.

He looked up at the castle and sighed. The three suns looked cold and uninviting. Normally this little planet was quite picturesque, but the weather made it look completely cold and lifeless.

He pulled his coat tighter around him and made his way to the pathway that had been carved into the mountain.

For him, the last time he had been here had been a mere 24 hours ago, but he had left it a good few months to allow the dust to settle from his previous visit.

He was lost in his thoughts when he became aware of a sound to his right. He turned his head just in time to see something dive at him from behind the rocks and thump him in the face.

He fell to the ground in a heap, clutching at his cheekbone in agony.

“Who are you?” came a voice.

The Doctor frowned and then looked up. Standing there was a tall man with a bald head. He was wearing a dark cloak and hood.

“Nice to see you too,” said the Doctor, getting to his feet.

A look of realisation dawned on the bald man’s face and he broke out into a grin. “Doctor!”

“Good to see you too, Reikon,” said the Doctor.

The bald man, Reikon, extended his arms and hugged the Doctor tightly. He then pulled away and looked apologetic. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t recognise you at first.”

“Well of course you wouldn’t, I’ve changed, haven’t I?”

“So everything worked out alright for you?” said Reikon, touching his shoulder affectionately.

“Obviously,” said the Doctor, indicating himself with his hands and do a little twirl on the spot.

“Can’t get used to you with hair,” said Reikon.

“And isn’t it about time you grew some?” said the Doctor, looking at the shiny bald scalp of Reikon.

“I’m hanging on to this body as long as I can,” he smiled. “Come on, let’s go and see Celestia and Caleb.”

They made their way up the gentle sloping mountain path, the rain easing off ever so slightly.

“How is Caleb doing anyway?” asked the Doctor, his hands in his pockets. He was checking he had everything stored away safely in his new coat.

“Oh, good. Much better than he was a few months ago. The damage to his face is almost fixed and he’s started walking again. He and I constructed some leg frames for him. They help him walk.”

“Careful, Reikon, we don’t want your son turning into a Cyberman.”

Reikon laughed and clapped him on his back. “It’s good to have you back.”

The pair walked in silence for a good few minutes, before the Doctor finally spoke. “How’s Celestia?”

The atmosphere suddenly turned a little frostier. Reikon didn’t respond at first, and then said. “She’s good. She’s fine.” A little of his warmth had faded.

“Did she tell you?”

“She did,” said Reikon. “She told me everything.”

“She only told me the basics.”

“She’s having a hard time of it, Doctor,” said Reikon. “It took me a long time to trust her again.”

“You mustn’t be hard on her, Reikon,” said the Doctor, as they reached the top of the mountain and headed towards the draw bridge. “She thought you were dead.”

“And I can understand how she’d want to move on,” said Reikon. “But with him?”

“He was a different person back then,” said the Doctor. “I know it doesn’t exactly justify it, but we were all different back then. In body and mind.”

Reikon nodded. “I know, I know.” He stopped and turned to face the Doctor. “She spends most of her time cooking, but barely talks to Caleb and myself. It’s like she feels guilty for what happened when we disappeared.”

“I’ll talk to her,” said the Doctor.

“You need to do more than that, Doctor. You need to go and find her daughter.”




Reikon led the Doctor through the courtyard and down into a small stone room beneath the main castle interior. In the room was a young man with dark hair. He had a few scars on his face and wore metal frames on both legs. His hands were dirty, he had an apron on and he was working on some kind of curved, brass sculpture.

“I’ll leave you with Caleb,” said Reikon. “I’ll let Celestia know you’re here. Just come up when you’re ready.”

Reikon left and Caleb turned to face the Doctor, a big grin on his face. “Uncle!”

“I told you I’d be back,” smiled the Doctor, giving him a warm hug. Although Reikon was only the Doctor‘s adopted brother, Caleb still always called him uncle. Ever since those early days back on Gallifrey. “Well, those scars are healing pretty nicely.”

“I like to new look,” said Caleb, nodding at the Doctor. “You look a little closer to my age now.”

“Thank you,” said the Doctor, “I’m quite happy with it myself. My heads warmer at least.”

Caleb laughed.

“What are you working on?” said the Doctor, pointing to the structure. “Not another time experiment I hope?”

“No,” said Caleb, crossing over to his piece of work. “Definitely not. It’s just an ornament. This place is our home now. I thought it needed something to spruce it up a bit. Make it our own.”

“It looks fascinating,” said the Doctor, nodding his approval.

“Where’ve you been then?” said Caleb, sitting down on a bench and removing his dirty work gloves.

“No where actually.”

“But it’s been months.”

“For you, maybe. I only regenerated about a day ago. I thought I’d give you some time for the news to sink in.”

Caleb looked to the ground and brushed his fringe out of his eyes.

“So your mother told you, yes?”

“Yeah, she did. I mean I never knew the guy. He came on the scene long after me and father disappeared, but I’ve read up on him since. He’s…evil.”

“Misguided, most definitely,” said the Doctor. “You can’t blame your mother.”

“I don’t,” said Caleb. “As far as she was concerned me and father were dead and gone. She had to move on. She wasn’t to know that the man she had a child with would become one of the biggest evils in the universe.”

“And that’s why I’m here,” said the Doctor. “I’m going to speak to your mother about my plans.”

“She’s only told you, me and father. She daren’t say anything else. He threatened to kill my sister, you know?”

“Half sister,” corrected the Doctor.

“And you’re only my adopted uncle, but you’re still my uncle to me.”

The Doctor smiled and rubbed him on his shoulder. “I don’t know why he paid the surgeons to tell your mother that your…sister had died, but he must have had a reason.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand why he’s so bothered about her anyway. He’s had other family members. Other children. What makes her so different?”

Caleb shrugged as he began polishing down the brass ornament.

“The girl must be out there somewhere, because he most certainly hasn’t got her.”

“And you’re going to go out there and rescue her, yeah?”

“That’s what I’m hoping to do. Even if she doesn’t need rescuing, he’ll soon work out that Celestia has told us all about her. Her life will be in danger.”

“Mum will want to come, you know?”

“I know, but it’ll be better if I did this on my own. This girl is likely going to be traumatised.”

“How so?”

“Well, how would you feel if you discovered that your father was the Master?!”

To be continued...

The Fires That Burned Blue (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1 (Crap Life. Crap Family. Crap World)

West Fulton, Garton, Edinburgh, 1987

Craig Levy’s head hit the brick wall with such a force that he actually thought for a moment that he could hear birds circling his head. He slumped down onto the wet ground, his cheek resting in a puddle of water and dirt. He glanced up and saw the blurred figure of Colin Dunlop looking down at him.

“I told you, you freak. Told you they were mine.”

Craig didn’t answer. He wanted to tell him where to go. He wanted to get back up like a superhero and fight off this thug, but he couldn’t. If he got up now, he’d never get up again.

“Next time you try a trick like that, you’re dead meat, mate.” He leaned in close to Craig and Craig could smell the cheap fags on his breath. “You hear me, pal?”

Craig nodded, feeling the bruise starting to come out on the side of his face.

“That’s a good boy,” said Dunlop, booting him one more time in the stomach, before Craig heard his footsteps slosh away in the rain.

“Jesus Christ,” came the female voice.

Craig tried to turn to see where the sound was coming from. He was aware of a female figure hovering over him. Now she was kneeling down over him.

“Craig, it’s me. Are you okay?”

Craig tried to open his mouth, but the words wouldn’t come out.

“Craig, it’s me, Lilly. Are you okay?”

But Craig was not okay. He was never going to ever be okay living in this dump of an estate, and right now he saw no future for himself at all.




Craig and Lilly sat on the bench overlooking the children’s playground. Craig had a bag of peas held up to his face and Lilly was sat across from him, looking worried.

“You really ought to get yourself to a hospital,” she said.

“What’s the point?” said Craig. “They’d only ask me how I did it.”

“And you tell them the truth this time,” said Lilly. “You can’t keep letting Colin Dunlop treat you like a bloody punching bag.”

“I shouldn’t have asked for those NES games back,” said Craig.

“Don’t be stupid. They were yours. He took them. He stole them,” she said, feeling the anger boil up inside of her.

“No use in worrying about it now,” said Craig. “Best just to let him get on with it.”

Lilly growled and turned away, folding her arms. She may have only been 14 years old, but she knew what was right and what was wrong and Colin Dunlop was a thousand kinds of wrong.

“I gotta get back home, Lils,” said Craig.

“When your dad sees you he’ll have a fit,” said Lilly.

“Well I can’t stay out here all afternoon.”

“Come back to mine.”

“The psycho Galloways,” said Craig. “No bloody chance.”

Lilly looked angry and then burst out laughing. “Yeah, bad choice I suppose.”

Lilly turned and spotted a figure in a grey jacket and jeans coming up the path, his thin hair plastered over his forehead in the rain. He was smoking a cigarette and threw it to the ground as he approached the bench.

“Lilly,” said the man.

“Archie,” said Lilly, disdain in her voice. “What do you want?”

“Don’t be like that,” he said, lighting up another cigarette. “Dad wants you back at the house now.”

“What for?”

“Because it’s bloody raining,” said Archie. “And because your teas almost ready.”

“I’m not going,” said Lilly, folding her arms and staring ahead.

“You’ll go if I have to drag you back home,” said Archie.

“Don’t make me angry.”

“Oh, so you’re the Incredible Hulk now, are you?” said Archie, taking a drag on the cigarette. He pointed at her. “Dad heard about what happened to this little tosser,” he said, indicating Craig.

Craig closed his eyes and looked away.

“You stay away from him. We don’t need Colin Dunlop against us.”

“Oh, for god sake,” said Lilly, shaking her head. “Colin Dunlop is a thug.”

“Colin’s also the top man on this estate,” said Archie. “So you don’t get on his bad side.”

“He’s just punched up a kid 15 years younger than him,” said Lilly, angrily.

“He’s got the keys to the estate, little sister,” said Archie. “Now get yourself back to the house or I’ll send Andrea up here to get you.”

Lilly sighed as she watched her brother go. She turned to Craig. “You gonna be alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” said Craig, feeling the peas melt in the bag.

“I’m not staying away from you, Craigy-boy,” she said. She gave him a kiss on his good cheek and smiled. “Get yourself back home and I’ll come see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” said Craig.




By the time Lilly got to her street it was almost dark. She turned into Wardieburn Terrace and looked up at her families grim, pebble-dashed semi-detached house, the window casting a glowing, yellow light onto the grey pavement outside.

She hated living here. She hated the violence and the depravity and the poverty. She hated the people and she hated her family.

There was her, her Dad, her brother, Archie, who was in his early 20’s, and her older sister, Andrea, who was 29. They all lived in the grotty little house. She never knew her Mum. She had left home when Lilly was just a baby, but the Galloway’s were notorious around West Fulton. None of them worked and the only income was selling illegal goods down at the market.

The front door opened and a man in a dark suit emerged. He looked smart. Too smart for this area. He had swept back hair with hints of grey, and a neatly trimmed, greying beard. His eyes were dark and mysterious and he smiled at her when she walked towards the door.

Lilly had seen this man before on numerous occasions over the years, but he never seemed to look any different.

“Good evening, Miss Galloway. What frightful weather you’re having.” He sounded positively charming.

“Oh yeah,” said Lilly, “it’s crap, isn’t it?”

The man looked back at the open doorway. “I believe there’s fish and chips on the table. Don’t let them go cold, eh?”

“Thanks for caring, pal,” said Lilly.

The man chuckled. “Good evening, Lilly.”

“Good evening,” she said as charmingly as she could.

She made her way inside, hung up her hat and coat and then made her way into the kitchen. There was indeed fish and chips on the table. Her father was sat at the end of the table. He was going bald and had a pencil thin moustache and sunken in eyes.

Archie was there as well.

Her sister, Andrea, looked like her brother - the same dark eyes and lank, black hair. She looked every bit the thug that the rest of the family looked like.

“Decided to come home, did you?” said Andrea.

“Yeah,” said Lilly, sitting down at the table.

Andrea grabbed Lilly’s plate and took it away from her.

“That’s mine,” said Lilly.

“You were told to come home an hour ago,” said Archie. “You forfeited your dinner.”

“Oh, for god sake!” said Lilly angrily.

“Calm yourself,” said her Dad, staring right at her from across the table.

“I’m hungry.”

“There’s crackers in the cupboard,” said Andrea as she tucked into the fish and chips.

“Oh, piss off!” said Lilly, getting up from the table and flinging her chair across the room.

Her Dad thumped his fists down on the table. “Get her upstairs!” he growled.

Andrea and Archie dived for Lilly who tried to scramble away. She was no match for them and found herself pinned down. The pair of them dragged her up the stairs and to the back of the house where they literally threw her through the bedroom door where she landed next to the bed with a thump.

Lilly was too angry to be upset and ran to the door as they closed it and locked it from the other side. She began thumping on the wood over and over again.

Eventually she stopped and slumped to the floor. She needed to get out of this nightmare. She needed to get out of this world.

And then she heard the sound. Somewhere in the distance, through the window open at the top, she could hear a strange wheezing and groaning sound.

It sounded…alien.

To be continued...

The Fires That Burned Blue: Prologue

A long time ago…on Gallifrey…


The Doctor had an adopted brother, Reikon, who was married to a woman called Celestia. The two of them had a son together - Caleb.

When the Doctor was young, during his 1st incarnation, he had always promised to take Caleb to explore the universe should he ever get the chance.

As Caleb grew older he enrolled at the academy and began dabbling in his own experiments. One such experiment was to determine the location of a mythical pocket dimension where the echoes of Time Lord incarnations were said to go when a Time Lord regenerates.

In a catastrophic accident Caleb and his father were lost in the pocket dimension, presumed dead.

Celestia had no choice but to move on with her life, and many, many years later, when the Doctor was much older, he escaped Gallifrey and took his granddaughter, Susan, with him.




In the intervening years the Time War happened.

Gallifrey was lost.
And then Gallifrey was found again.
And more time passed…




A long time later the Doctor was drawn to Mount Cassius, where Celestia had been living in seclusion. The Master had claimed to have found the location of the pocket dimension and enlisted the Doctor and his friends to help him find it.

Although the Master had told the truth, he also had an ulterior motive. The Doctor found Reikon and a badly injured Caleb and rescued them, but not before the Master absorbed the power of the dimension in order to regenerate his own, dying body.

The Doctor, too, absorbed the energy of his former incarnations’ echoes to trigger off a new regeneration for him.

The Master escaped and Reikon and Caleb were reunited with Celestia at last.

But before the Doctor finished his regeneration, Celestia told him something. Something that guaranteed that the Master had hold over her…



Then…


She looked back towards the hall and then back at the Doctor.

And then she leaned in and whispered something in his ear…

“He said my daughter is alive. He said she’s out there somewhere, and if I went up against him…if I defied him…he’d kill her.”

“You have a daughter?”

“I thought she had died when she was born. The surgeons told me she had died.”

“How can you be so sure he’s telling you the truth?”

“Because…he was the father. The Master was - and is - her father.”

To be continued...

Story 5: The Fires That Burned Blue

The coffin was lowered into the ground. Lilly stood and watched on. 

Her sister’s eyes were full of tears, her father’s face a look of anguish.Lilly didn’t care.
She didn’t care that her brother was dead. In fact…she was happy.

West Fulton, Edinburgh, 1987

Fourteen year old Lilly Galloway is living in a nightmare; a world she desperately wants to escape from. Her father doesn't care and her brother and sister are both violent criminals. She longs to escape her prison, and all the time she is being watched. Watched by a man calling himself Mr Magister...


Elsewhere...

24 hours after his most recent regeneration, the Doctor returns to Mount Cassius and to the home of his adopted brother, Reikon, along with his wife, the Lady Celestia, and their son, Caleb. But he barely has time to catch up when the four of them are attacked.

The Master has returned and a plan he put in motions on another world, in another time, is about to unfold...


This is the fifth in a series of adventures starring James McAvoy as the New Doctor, Felicity Jones as Holly Dangerfield and Evanna Lynch as Lilly Galloway.

Aliens Among Us (Chapter 9)

Chapter 9 (A New Dawn)

Holly was stood beside the TARDIS in the middle of Waterloo Close as she stared up at the sun. She blinked in the afternoon daylight and shielded her eyes against it.

“I was looking at the same sky only a few hours ago when I thought you were dead,” said Lilly as she locked up the TARDIS.

“I have a headache,” said Holly.

“Yeah, they said that’d be a side effect, but if that’s the only side effect of pretending to be dead then it’s a good thing.”

“Yeah,” said Holly, managing a weak smile.

“What do you remember?” asked Lilly, guiding her away from the box to sit on the curb.

“Just…that thing coming at me from the darkness. Then pain. Then…” She looked at Lilly and smiled again. “Thank you.”

“For what?” said Lilly.

“For rescuing me.”

“Don’t go all damsel in distress on me now, Dangerfield.”

Holly laughed and put her arm around her. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For dying,” said Holly. She started to cry.

“Hey,” said Lilly, “you’re here now. That’s all that maters.”

“I know,” she said, managing to laugh again. “I know.” She sniffed and then got up, looking around the close. “So they are all aliens, yeah?”

“That’s what Arnold says, yeah,” said Lilly, nodding at the madness of it all.

Holly turned back to Lilly. “Can I tell you something?”

“Yeah, but can it wait,” said Lilly. “I don’t trust those aliens with the Doctor. We need to get to Arnold’s house and make sure he’s safe.”

“Yeah of course,” said Holly, nodding.

“You sure it can wait?” said Lilly.

“It’ll wait,” smiled Holly.

Lilly grabbed her hand and they both started running, Holly a little unsteadily at first, but then she soon picked up the pace. “Let’s go, Dangerfield!”




The Doctor was leaning against the outer wall of Arnold’s house when the old man stepped outside the front door and stood next to the Time Lord, looking ahead at nothing in particular.

“Are you okay, Doctor?” said Arnold.

“I…don’t know.”

“You had no idea one of your kind was down here?”

“No,” said the Doctor quietly. “What happened to him?”

Arnold shrugged. “He helped us install the equipment and then left after he’d made sure we were all safe.”

The Doctor scratched his chin. “What could he possibly be doing?”

“Do you know who he is?”

“Indeed I do,” said the Doctor. He turned to Arnold, “But that’s the least of our problems now. The real question is: what do I now do with your people.”

Arnold closed his eyes. “Please, Doctor, we are innocents. We will not harm anyone.”

“And how can you be sure the Lanix won’t find you? I detected you.”

“There is a slim, slim chance,” said Arnold, “but what other choice do we have? If we uproot ourselves now, you doom us.”

“I doom you,” said the Doctor, gently. “And I can’t doom you, Arnold.”

Arnold smiled. “So you’ll let us stay?”

The doctor sighed. “You need to keep Charlie Twemlow under control.”

“I will,” said Arnold, nodding vigorously.

“And you need to call me the moment you get any kind of inkling that the Lanix are on your trail.”

“So you’re going to help us? You’re going to protect us?”

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and nodded. “It’s what I do, Arnold. I protect the innocents.”

Arnold threw his arms around the Doctor and hugged him tightly. “Thank you.”

The Doctor broke free and stepped back from the old man. “But there will come a time, Arnold, when you will have to embrace what you used to be. You will have to become the Yaros again.”

“Get away from him you freak!” yelled Lilly from down the street as she ran towards Arnold with a half-brick.

“Lilly! No, no!” said the Doctor, almost rugby tackling her to the ground. “It’s fine. It’s all okay. We’ve worked it all out.”

“They killed Holly!” said Lilly.

“I’m still here, Lilly,” said Holly.

The Doctor looked over Lilly’s head at Holly as she stood there in her muddied, dark clothes, her face pale and her lips dry and sore. “Miss Dangerfield.”

“Holly,” said Arnold quietly. “I’m so sorry. It was Charlie Twemlow…”

“Arnold, it doesn’t matter now,” said Holly. “I’m fine. I’m alive. No matter what crap’s gone down here, I’m alive. We’re all alive.”




Day 16




The following night the Doctor invited a number of the Runswick estate to a BBQ he was throwing in Waterloo Close. They were due to leave the next morning, but the Doctor felt that he needed to cement their friendship after all the difficulties they had gone through.

He still didn’t feel easy with letting the Yaros stay hidden on the Runswick estate, but he couldn’t fault Arnold’s logic. They needed to stay hidden from their enemies, and at least he’d be on hand to fly in and deal with the situation should it ever arise.

He made a mental note to visit Yaros and Lanix at some point in the future.

And then there was the Matthew mystery…what was he doing here…?

“Hot dog, Doctor,” said Holly, handing him a hot dog which had been overly lathered in tomato ketchup.

“Oh, thank you, Miss Dangerfield,” said the Doctor, taking it off her and taking a bite. “Nice to see you looking more like your old self.”

“I feel much better.”

“You slept most of last night and most of today!” said Lilly, sidling up to them with a glass of wine.

“Is that alcohol, young Lilly?” said the Doctor.

“Indeed it is,” said Lilly.

“Now, Lilly-”

“I need alcohol. We need alcohol,” said Lilly, winking at Holly. “Isn’t that right, Holly?”

“Don’t call me Holly,” said Holly.

Lilly looked confused.

“I’ve got used to you calling me Dangerfield.”

The three of them burst into laughter when Arnold appeared. “Fantastic barbeque here, Doctor!”

“Glad you approve,” he said politely. He still wasn’t willing to accept Arnold as a friend, but there was nothing wrong with being civil.

“Where’s Mr Twemlow?” said Holly.

“Staying at home,” said Arnold. “I think it’s for the best.”

“Agreed,” said the Doctor.

Lilly just looked at Arnold angrily.

“You know, Holly, you can stay if you want. Run the shop.”

Holly smiled but shook her head. “Thank you, Arnold, but I’ve already lived through the 90’s once. Besides, I’ve got my home life to think about.”

Arnold nodded. “Fair enough, young lady. Fair enough.”

Holly wandered off towards the picnic bench on the grass and sat down. Lilly slowly walked over to her and sat down opposite her. She took a swig of her whine and then smiled at Holly.

“You okay?” said Holly.

“Yeah,” said Lilly. “You said about your home life. Are you planning on going home?”

Holly looked past Lilly to the darkening sky, the stars just starting to appear in the blue sky. “Do you want me to go?”

“Yeah,” said Lilly. And then she wrinkled her nose. “No. Not yet at least.”

“Well, Lilly, I’m not going anywhere until we’re ready to face to Kro’Tenk back at home.”

Lilly smiled a wide smile. And then she had a thought. “You said you had something to tell me earlier on.”

But before Holly could respond there was a raucous strum of acoustic guitar strings. The Doctor emerged from the kitchen to cheers from the residents.

“Oh, god,” said Lilly, her head in her hands.

“We could do with a bit of music here.”

“You can’t sing,” said Lilly.

“I used to able to,” said the Doctor, strumming a chord. “This is a little song I sung back in the 80’s. A lovely song by a man with dazzling blue eyes.”

“This should be fun,” said Holly.

“And now, the end is near…” began the Doctor.




And they partied on through the night.




It was early in the morning when the Doctor, Lilly and Holly loaded their belongings into the TARDIS. They had said their goodbyes to the residents the night before, but Arnold had come back to wave them off.

The trio took one last look around the now-empty house.

“In some ways,” said Lilly, “I’ll miss this place.”

“I know what you mean,” said Holly. “It was…fun. For a while I mean. Being dead wasn’t fun,” she added quickly.

“I’ve never been one to stick around for long,” said the Doctor, ushering them out of the front door and locking it up.

Arnold wandered over, his panama hat back on his head and the Doctor handed the keys over to him.

“I’ll make sure I get these back to the estate agent, Doctor,” he said.

“Thank you, Arnold.” He held out a hand. “Remember, any sign of your noisy neighbours and you come running, yeah?”

“Yes, Doctor,” said Arnold, shaking his hand.

“Come on, you two,” said the Doctor, unlocking the TARDIS.

Lilly held back whilst Holly wandered up to Arnold.

“I am truly sorry for Charlie’s actions,” said Arnold. “It was never our intention to hurt you.”

“I know,” said Holly. She gave him a hug,

“It was a true delight working with you, Miss Dangerfield.” He pulled away from her and held up his finger. “But I know what that poison does do people. You know what must be done.” He turned to Lilly he was stood in the TARDIS door waiting. “You have to talk to her.”

“I will,” said Holly. “I will.”

They gave each other another hug and then Holly joined Lilly and the Doctor in the TARDIS.

Arnold watched as the sound of the TARDIS engines filled the air and with a rush of wind the blue box dematerialised from Waterloo Close for the final time.




Across the other side of town, on the Carnforth Estate, a man called Elliot Nation stared out of his front window.

A young woman with blonde hair walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “What’s wrong, Elliot?”

“I’m just tired. Just tired of wearing these stupid disguises.”

“You know what Matthew said,” said the woman. “The only way for us to track them down is to remain in hiding. To remain hidden.”

“But we can’t find them. They’re nowhere to be seen. They may not even be on this planet, Carmen.”

Carmen turned him to face her and then draped her arms over his shoulders. “We will find them, Elliot, and then the Lanix will wipe out the Yaros forever.”

Epilogue

The TARDIS doors opened and the Doctor pushed Lilly and Holly out. They were standing on a beach, the gentle waves crashing against the shore and the sun high in the sky.

“What’s going on?” said Holly.

“You two need to talk,” said the Doctor.

“What? About what?” said Lilly.

“Holly can start off,” said the Doctor. He went back into the TARDIS and closed the doors. A few seconds later he opened them again. “It’s quiet here. You can both get yourselves into order and get everything out in the open. I’ll be back in a few hours.” He closed the doors and with a rush of wind the TARDIS disappeared.

Holly and Lilly stood opposite each other in silence.

“So you wanted to tell me something,” said Lilly.

Holly nodded. “Yes.” She guided Lilly over to a dune and sat down on it, staring out to sea. “When I…died, so to speak, I wasn’t completely unconscious.”

“What do you mean?” said Lilly, looking a little sheepish.

“It’s hard to explain, but it was like an out of body experience. I was floating around the room. My consciousness. That’s the only way I can explain it.”

“Okay,” said Lilly slowly.

“And I heard everything you told me. About you and the Doctor and what happened to your brother. And I’m sorry that I took the diary.”

“It’s okay,” said Lilly, putting her hand on Holly’s.

“But I heard everything. How you feel and your emotions. Everything.”

“Not quite everything,” said Lilly, looking away.

“Meaning?” said Holly.

“Meaning that I didn’t tell you everything about my past and about what happened to my brother, and you’ll hate me.”

“I won’t hate you,” said Holly.

“You will hate me. You’ll hate me because…because it was me that killed my brother.”




The Doctor stood in front of a simple, curved gravestone, his hands deep in his pockets, his beard looking thicker than ever. His face was stern and serious, but there was a tear forming in the corner of his eye.

“I’m sorry,” he said to the gravestone. “I tried to keep her safe, but he’s out there somewhere. I’ve felt him for some time now.”

He closed his eyes and then knelt down at the grave.

“He’s still after Lilly. The Master is back.”




The End

Resurrection continues on Saturday with "The Fires That Burned Blue" where a number of revelations are made.

Aliens Among Us (Chapter 8)

Chapter 8 (The Fury of a Time Lord)

Lilly could feel the room closing in around her as she stood in disbelief at what Arnold had just told them. She knew she should have been bothered about the fact that Arnold had just told them that everyone on the estate were aliens in the disguise, but the news about Holly was much, much more important.

And she was scared that he was lying. She didn’t want to let herself enjoy that type of news in case it was a lie.

“You killed her,” said Lilly again.

“I didn’t kill her. I never touched her,” said Arnold. “It was another of our kind.”

“Who?” said the Doctor.

“Mr Twemlow,” said Arnold quickly. “Charlie was always acting with his own agenda.”

“Wait a minute,” said the Doctor, closing his eyes and holding up his hands. “This is a little bit of an information overload. I need to take a minute here.”

“But she’s dead,” said Lilly, ignoring the Doctor. “She’s laid out on a table in our TARDIS dead. Lifeless. Gone!”

“She’s not dead,” said Arnold. “She’s merely been put into a deep, deep coma.”

“There were no life signs,” said Lilly. “Where there Doctor?”

“No,” he said, returning to the conversation. “She was completely dead.”

“The poison in our claws do that. They paralyse the victim and it masks their body. Makes you think they’re dead. Even the most advanced equipment wouldn’t be able to detect life signs.”

“But why?” said the Doctor. “Why do it?”

“Oh, well,” said Arnold, sitting down on one of the pews, “I spoke to Charlie about it. Said it was a bad idea, but he insisted. I told him no. His own wife told him no, but he still went ahead and did it. Said we needed to scare you.”

“So it was Charlie Twemlow who left that brick with the note? The phone call?”

“Well, yes,” said Arnold. “I mean we were all aware of it. We all decided on it, but it was Charlie who committed the acts.”

Lilly growled and launched herself at Arnold.

“No, Lilly,” said the Doctor, grabbing her and pulling her back.

“Keep her under control,” said Arnold, smoothing out his shirt and composing himself.

The Doctor pointed a finger at Arnold. “Don’t you dare tell me or my friend what we should be doing.”

“This is our estate,” said Arnold. “We are the ones in control here.”

“How do we wake up Holly?” said Lilly.

Arnold went into his pocket and pulled our a test tube with a rubber stopper on the end. Inside was a light blue liquid. “The antidote.”

Lilly reached out for it, but Arnold pulled away. “Ah-ah-ah…not until you promise me one thing.”

“What?” said the Doctor.

“That you will leave us alone.”

“I can’t promise anything until I have the full story about you and your kind,” said the Doctor, apologetically.

“And who made you the judge of my people?” said Arnold. “We’ve been here for over 50 years.”

“I’m a Time Lord. I’m sure you’ve heard of my people?”

“Time Lord. Not Time Judge.” Arnold looked up at the Doctor. “Surely you’d be better off back with your own people, dealing with their own problems.”

The Doctor stared down at Arnold. “Don’t try and provoke me, Arnold.”

“Give me the sodding antidote,” said Lilly, holding out her hand. “Doctor, tell him you’ll speak to him. Tell him you’ll try and understand. I just need that antidote.”

Arnold looked at the Doctor with a look that advised him to listen to his companion.

The Doctor shook his head in frustration. “Very well. Hand her the antidote.”

“You promise to listen to us? You promise to give us a chance?”

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “Just give it to her.”

Arnold held out the antidote and Lilly snatched it from him and raced towards the door.

“Give her two drops of it,” said Arnold. “She’ll wake up with a sore head, but will be okay.”

Lilly reached the door when Arnold spoke again.

“Tell her I’m sorry.”

Lilly narrowed her eyes at the old man and then bolted out of the door.




The Doctor and Arnold had walked in silence from the church to a small street around the corner called Lime Avenue. It had normal, ordinary working class terrace houses. Arnold led the Doctor to a house with a large, red door - No. 33.

“Your house?” said the Doctor.

“My house,” said Arnold.

He put his hand on the doorknob and went inside.

The Doctor stepped into the dimly lit, but incredibly tidy hallway. Arnold hung his panama hat up on the coat hook and led the Doctor through into the living room where Mrs Jefferson, Mr Twemlow and a small collection of the residents of the Runswick estate were sat.

Mrs Jefferson gave a nervous smile to the Doctor and offered him a cup of tea.

“Thank you,” said the Doctor, as Arnold indicated for him to sit down in an armchair.

The Doctor looked around the room. It looked normal and ordinary. There was nothing about this place that suggested it was inhabited by an alien couple. The flowery wallpaper was a little dated for the 1990’s, but then Patricia and Arnold Jefferson were an old fashioned couple.

A plate of custard creams was passed around and the Doctor took one and bit into it. “No Coffee Creams?”

“I’m afraid not, Doctor,” said Patricia.

The Doctor took a sip of his tea and then turned to Mr Twemlow. “Charlie, you’ve caused my friends and I some heartache.”

“I did warn you,” said Charlie, his eyes behind his spectacles betraying no emotion on his face.

“It was you who attacked me outside of my…craft, yes?”

He gave a curt nod. “Indeed it was. I was merely trying to protect my people.”

“And every single one of you are aliens, yes?”

“That is correct,” said Arnold.

“So are you going to tell me about your story?” said the Doctor, leaning back in the armchair and interlocking his fingers.

Arnold took a deep breath. “We’ve been here, roughly, for around 40 years. We arrived during the time that they demolished the slums and built the flats. The council at the time were struggling to keep a track on who lived where. At first there was a mere handful of us, but slowly more of our kind joined the group and we took up residence in the tower blocks. Eventually the flats were full of just us. When it came to them knocking them down this estate was built for us to move into. We were a proper little community. We looked after ourselves and took care of one another.”

“But where did you come from?” asked the Doctor, leaning in closer.

“We are a race of creatures known as the Yaros,” said Charlie. “Our planet was devastated during the Time War.” His eyes met the Doctors. “We tried to rebuild from the ruins, but our neighbouring world, Lanix, seized the opportunity to attack and occupy us. The Lanix tore through our world, destroying our cities and stealing our precious minerals, enslaving our peaceful people.”

“I’m sorry,” said the Doctor, putting his half-empty cup down on a coaster next to the armchair.

“We decided to flee. A handful of us.” Arnold took a deep breath. “That’s when we ended up here. But we knew we had to hide. For a time we stayed in the woods on the outskirts of the town, hiding from the Humans.”

“But then we found a way to disguise ourselves,” said Patricia. “Then we moved into the flats.”

“But I detected alien life signs some time back,” said the Doctor.

Arnold nodded. “Unfortunately every ten years our system needs rebooting. For a split second our shielding comes down and we are exposed to anybody out there who can detect us.”

“That must have been a moment when I detected you.”

“Indeed,” said Arnold.

“When you came here we knew something was up. But your attempts to expose us didn’t work,” continued Charlie.

The Doctor nodded sagely. “Both attempts at trying to expose you failed because the machinery couldn’t cope with the overload. It couldn’t cope with the fact that hundreds - thousands - of you were an alien life form.”

Arnold nodded. “I tried to warn you off. I tried to advise Holly to leave.”

“But don’t you see,” said the Doctor, his arms out in a pleading fashion, “that you can’t stay here. If the Lanix find you they could unleash a war in the middle of this town. Thousands of innocents could get hurt.”

“We’re not leaving, Doctor,” said Arnold. “I’m sorry.”

“This is why I was trying to uncover you.”

“And this is why we were so determined to do anything to stop you,” said Charlie.




Lilly reached the TARDIS and fumbled for her key, careful not to drop the test tube with the antidote inside it. She could hardly contain herself. She wasn’t sure what to think. She felt like someone had just taken away her favourite toy and then given it back to her.

And then she cursed herself for thinking of Holly as a toy.

She unlocked the door and ran through the console room and headed down the strip-light corridor. She turned right then left, skidded around the swimming pool, ran down another corridor and then finally…finally…reached the room where Holly was resting.

She flung the door open. She was still there as she had left her earlier on.

Lilly raced up to the table and clasped Holly’s hand. Then she careful took the stopper out of the top of the test tube and gently let two drops of the blue liquid fall onto Holly’s lips. The two droplets slipped in between her lips.

And Lilly waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Lilly was about to give up hope, when suddenly she felt Holly’s fingers tense ever so slightly. Lilly let out a breath and could hardly contain herself. She rested her head against Holly’s chest. Sure enough the heart beat was starting up. Very faint, but it was there.

Holly’s eyelids started to flicker as her fingers flexed and un-flexed. It was like some kind of creation waking up on the scientists table.

Lilly almost wanted to shout. “She’s alive! She’s alive!” but managed to refrain from doing that.

Finally Holly’s eyes flicked open, her pupils narrowing in the bright light as she frantically looked around and around, breathing heavily.

“Where…where…?” was all Holly could manage.

Lilly appeared at the side of her face and looked down at her. “Ssshh,” she said, soothingly. “It’s alright, Holly. You’re gonna be alright. I’m here. I’m here.”




The Doctor finished his tea and then sat back in the armchair again, staring straight ahead at Arnold.

“Say something, Doctor?”

“Hmm,” said the Doctor, closing his eyes. “There’s just one thing I don’t quite understand.”

“And that is?” said Arnold.

“The machinery you have for transforming yourselves, for disguising an entire alien community…that takes some serious hardware.” He cocked his head to the side. “Where did you get that sort of technology?”

Arnold leaned forward. “When we first crashed we met a man. He called himself Matthew.”

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed.

“He said he wanted to help us. He had the technology to help shield us from the Lanix. We jumped at the chance.”

“Matthew…” said the Doctor, musing the name over.

“He was a nice chap. Very quiet, but nice. I would have thought you’d have been all clued up on him by now,” said Arnold.

“Oh, why’s that?” said the Doctor, already knowing the answer before he asked the question.

“Why? Because Matthew was one of your people. Matthew was a Time Lord.”

To be concluded...

Aliens Among Us (Chapter 7)

Chapter 7 (A Holly in the Heart)

Day 15


Lilly stood at the back door. The sun was rising now and the rain in the night had passed over. By all accounts it looked like it was going to be a nice day. Weather wise that was. Lilly continued to gaze up at the sky as she watched a couple of sparrows zoom past, fighting between each other over a worm.

When they had gone she turned and walked back into the kitchen. Sat on the kitchen table was the pile of dry washing that Holly had put out the day before. One of her tops was sat on the pile. It was a slightly crumpled, blue top with short arms and a v-neck.

She grabbed the top slowly and then went to the cupboard at the back of the kitchen. She pulled out the ironing board, switched the iron on, and then carefully ironed the top until not a single crease was left. When she had finished she neatly folded up the top and then placed it back on top of the other clothes.

She made her way into the living room. The curtains were still closed and the Doctor was asleep on the sofa, curled up with a blanket pulled over him.

Lilly walked past as quietly as she could and made her way upstairs. When she reached the top of the stairs she hesitated for a moment as she looked at the door to Holly’s room.

She swallowed and then headed for the door, pushing it open and going inside. The bed was still unmade. Holly had been pretty untidy when it came to things like that.

She sat down on the bed and stared ahead at the wall in front of her. Although they hadn’t intended on staying for very long, Holly had still set about dotting the room with some home comforts. She’d hung all of her clothes up in the wardrobe, set up a portable radio player and placed an alarm clock on the bedside cabinet.

Lilly slowly tipped herself to the side and lay down on the bed. She lay there for a good few minutes, her head resting on the pillow. Her mind was a blank. She didn’t know what to do or to think. This was like something from a nightmare.

A nightmare she had had once before.

She shifted her legs across the bed and they struck something underneath the quilt. Frowning she sat herself up and reached under the covers, pulling out the object.

It was a diary.

His diary.

She gasped as she flicked through it and then threw it down.

“Lilly?” came the Doctor’s voice. He was standing at the door, his hair sticking up at odd angles and his beard looking like it needed a trim.

Lilly looked up at the Doctor, her mouth opened. “She took the diary. She took the diary.”

“Your brothers?” said the Doctor, stepping into the room.

Lilly nodded, holding up the book and showing it to him.

“I thought you’d destroyed it.”

“I…I couldn’t,” said Lilly, her voice faltering. “I put it in the bedside cabinet. I forgot about it when we put Holly in there.”

“Lilly…” said the Doctor, closing his eyes.

“She read it though. She read it.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” said the Doctor, coming into the room and sitting next to her on the bed. “You knew she was curious.”

“She couldn’t just leave it alone, could she?” said Lilly, throwing the diary across the room.

“She never said anything to you?”

“Nothing,” said Lilly. “I had no idea she had this.” Lilly looked up at him with scared, teary eyes. “Was she just pretending to be my friend?”

“No of course not,” said the Doctor, putting an arm around her. “She did it because she wanted to get to know you better.”

“She could have just asked,” said Lilly, her eyes streaming with tears.

“She did ask,” said the Doctor.

Lilly didn’t respond. She just looked at him.

“You kept blocking her out.”

Lilly looked down at her feet, her eyes moving from side to side. “I was just too scared.”

“I know.”

“And look at what happened. I said it’d happen, didn’t I? We got someone killed. Again.”

The Doctor looked at her and then got up off the bed. “We have plans to make.”

“Don’t deny it,” said Lilly.

He didn’t turned to face her. “It’s time we stopped pussyfooting around with this alien.”

“I want to see her.”

“Why?”

“I want to say goodbye before we take her back to her parents.”




The room was cold and white. The air smelt of peppermint and lying on a large table in the centre of the room was Holly, her body still and peaceful.

Lilly stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. She could still hear the gentle hum from the console room, but in here it was much, much quieter.

She slowly walked up to Holly and looked down at her. She looked like she could be asleep. She was in the same, dark clothes she had been wearing the previous night, except her top had been pulled open ever so slightly as the Doctor had examined the puncture marks in her chest.

He had told Lilly that the alien had pumped something into her heart, killing her instantly.

She looked down at her and then took her hand. It was cold. Lifeless.

“Hello, Dangerfield,” said Lilly, her voice echoing around the room. “Thought I’d pop in and see you before the Doctor brings this estate down,” she said, trying to keep her voice as cheery as possible.

She closed her eyes and gripped Holly’s hand a little tighter. “I just wanted to say…how sorry I am. Ever since I met you I’ve just been a heartless bitch. I never…cared for your feelings. I never even considered that you could be a real friend to me.”

She let go of Holly’s hand and walked away, resting her head against the far wall. “I found the diary. My brother’s diary. The one you had been reading. I don’t blame you. I really don’t. If I’d have opened up to you more maybe you wouldn’t have had to take it.” She turned back to face Holly. “When I first met you I didn’t want to know you. I didn’t want to know anybody new. I just wanted it to be me and the Doctor. That way the only people who would get hurt would be him and me. Nobody else.” She straightened herself out. “You see, when the Doctor rescued me from Edinburgh he was already travelling with my brother. And we travelled together for some time, but because I’m so screwed up in my head,” she said, pointing to her temple angrily, “I wouldn’t let my brother in. He tried to get to know me, but I wouldn’t let him. I used to hurt him. Upset him. And then one day, just as I thought I might be able to accept him, he died.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “And then it was just me and the Doctor.” She took Holly’s hand again. “The Doctor tried to help me, but I’m just a bad person. I’m cursed. Every one who has ever known me has had bad things happen to them. My family were bad, my friend, Craig, suffered because of me, my brother died because of me and now you.”

She shook her head and closed her eyes. When she opened them a stream of tears flowed down. “Apart from Craig, my brother and the Doctor, you were the first person that showed me real warmth. The first one that wanted to get to know me for who I am. The first person outside of my family.” She gripped the hand tighter. “And in you I thought I had found something…someone…who I could be honest with.” She started to breathe heavily. “I should have been honest earlier. I should have told you all of this when you were still alive.” She leant in closer to Holly, her face almost touching hers. “Did you feel the same way? Did you? I guess I’ll never know now.”

She moved her other hand up to Holly’s forehead and brushed her hair out of her face. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I’m so, so sorry.” She leant in and gently kissed Holly on the lips. She looked at her for one moment and then let go of her hands. “I hope you’re with your grandfather now. I hope you’ve found peace, Holly Dangerfield.”




It was mid-day. The sun was beating down and the pavements were now bone-dry again. Parked in the middle of Waterloo Close was the TARDIS, it’s blue paint work standing out against the grey roads. The Doctor was standing in the doorway, Lilly at his side looking stern and emotionless.

The Doctor had a megaphone in his hand and the cord snaked from the megaphone into the TARDIS interior.

He brought the megaphone up to his mouth and spoke. When he spoke his voice didn’t come out of the funnel on the megaphone, but instead from the top of the TARDIS. It seemed to echo all around the estate.

“People of the Runswick Estate, my name is the Doctor. You may know me and my friends. You may have been served by my friend, Holly Dangerfield. She used to work in the paper shop around the corner from Coventry Avenue.”

Lilly looked up at him and smiled sadly.

“What you may not know is that last night Holly Dangerfield was brutally murdered. Murdered by someone living on this estate.”

Doors began to open and people began to emerge out onto the street to watch the Doctor.

The Doctor passed the megaphone to Lilly who cleared her throat. “Holly Dangerfield was a beautiful person. She had goodness in her heart. She didn’t deserve to die. All she was trying to do was help me and the Doctor uncover an alien living at the heart of this estate. An alien that constantly threatened us every time we tried to find it. Holly was a good person, but I am not a good person.”

The Doctor looked down at her with a pained expression.

“I am not a good person and I know that the alien is out there somewhere, listening in. So if you want to make sure you never find out how bad I can get, I suggest you show yourself. On the other hand you can continue hiding and I will hunt you down and show you just what Holly Dangerfield meant to me. It’s entirely your choice.”

The Doctor took the megaphone off her. “I’m fed up of playing tricks. I don’t want to hurt you. I just need to know why you’re hiding.” He looked at each of the residents as they continued to watch the Doctor. “If you are brave enough then come and find me. I will be waiting at the church on Tattershall Lane. If you don’t come…then I will not be held responsible for what my young friend will do.”




The church on Tattershall lane was a more modern affair than a traditional church. It was red-brick and built during the Victorian days and was one of the only few churches still standing in this part of Hanswick. Next to it was the community hall which the Scouts used, but the church wasn’t attended by that many people any more.

The Doctor was sat at the front of the church, his back to the door, with Lilly sat next to him. Neither of them had said a word since the little speech back in the close.

Finally, Lilly turned to him. “I don’t want to be bad.”

He put his hand on top of hers. “You won’t be bad, Lilly.”

“Do you think anyone will come?”

As if to answer Lilly’s question they heard the door open and then a single set of footsteps coming up the aisle.

“Sounds like Human footsteps,” said the Doctor, not turning around. “Still in disguise, eh?” he said, his voice a little louder.

“Still in disguise,” came the old voice.

The Doctor and Lilly turned around. Standing there was Arnold Jefferson, his panama hat in his hands, his eyes looking sad and his face deflated.

“I knew it,” spat Lilly. “All this time Holly was working with you. I knew it was you!”

“Steady now, Lilly,” said the Doctor, getting to his feet. “Arnold. You’re not Human, are you?”

Arnold shook his head, but didn’t answer.

“Murderer!” yelled Lilly, scrambling to her feet.

The Doctor put his arm out and held her back. “Keep calm, Lilly.”

“I’m not murderer,” said Arnold.

“Liar!” snarled Lilly.

“There are three things. Firstly, I didn’t kill Holly. Secondly, I’m not the only alien.”

“What?” said the Doctor, confused. “So there is more than one of you.”

Arnold looked between the Doctor and Lilly. “The reason you couldn’t track us down is because there are more of us than your machines and tracking devices can cope with.”

“How many more?” said the Doctor, looking down his nose at the old man.

“The entire estate. Every single one of us is alien.”

The Doctor didn’t say anything. Lilly just stared at him in disbelief.

“And thirdly?” said the Doctor, finally. “You said there were three things.”

“Yes,” said Arnold, lowering his head a little more. “Thirdly, Holly Dangerfield is not dead.”

To be continued...